Taiwan blames China for being stripped of skating event

Taiwan blamed China's "malicious suppression" Wednesday after being stripped of hosting figure skating's Asian Open this year, warning against the interference of politics in sport.

China has ramped up military and diplomatic pressure on Taiwan since the Beijing-sceptic President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016.

Taiwan's figure skating union said it was notified by the International Skating Union (ISU) on Monday that the second-tier Challenger level event, which had been due to take place in Taipei from October 30 to November 3, had been moved to the southern Chinese city of Dongguan.

Taiwan's foreign ministry said Wednesday it deeply regretted the ISU cancelling the event in Taiwan due to what it called "political factors" and issued a strong condemnation of China for "again interfering in international NGOs".

"China's malicious suppression of our civil groups' participation in international events will only re-spark the resentment of Taiwanese people on China," it said in a ...